


Penny Drabbles

by Engelsoft



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Alcoholism, And mild fluff too?, But it's basically complete as it is for now, But she isn't great, Canon, I'm going to write a few more drabbles for this eventually, Multi, On Hiatus, Pam tries her best as a mother, Penny tries cooking, Penny's father is only mentioned briefly, Tag As I Go, The farmer/player is there too but it's more about Penny and Pam, Their relationship gets better over time, angst I suppose, headcanons, nothing extreme though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:26:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28990677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Engelsoft/pseuds/Engelsoft
Summary: Short passages exploring some of the moments in Penny's life.
Relationships: Penny/Player (Stardew Valley)
Kudos: 6





	1. Growing Up

**Author's Note:**

> My first Stardew Valley fic. I hope you enjoy it! Comments and kudos appreciated ^-^ Please also let me know if you need anything tagged.

Penny didn’t remember much of her father. He was only a hazy figure in her memory. At times, when she was younger, she would lay in bed at night and try to imagine his voice, try to picture his face when he said her name. She saw and heard them, a man’s face and voice, but she never knew if they actually belonged to her father or if they were just something her childish mind had made up on its own.

Either way, Penny stopped trying to remember her father long ago. When she was a little girl, there was a part of her that ached for him to come back, but she had since moved on. What was there for him in Pelican Town except the rusty, cramped trailer and financial turmoil? From what Penny’s mother, Pam, had told her, the town’s bus had broken down and she had lost work. It was hard for the two parents to provide for their daughter on limited income, just scraping by day after day with no end in sight, and eventually her father had given up. The only thing Penny remembered about it was that he had ‘felt trapped.’ 

Penny had more or less forgiven him over the years, even though he had left his wife and daughter. She knew what he had been feeling then. She felt trapped, too.

Pam didn’t speak much about the separation. Even as a young girl, Penny saw a notable change in her after it happened. She grew more desperate and cranky, spreading herself even thinner to try and earn enough money to support her daughter. She began drinking more and more to deal with the stress of trying to raise a child on her own, and the money she was trying to save ended up at the saloon. How could she afford to send Penny to school? There was no school in Pelican Town, and the nearest one was miles away. They couldn’t move out of their decrepit trailer - they didn’t have the money. Pam resorted to homeschooling Penny, doing her best to teach her reading, writing and maths.

Academia had never come easily to Pam, but thankfully Penny took to homeschooling like a duck to water. Pam taught her what she could, mostly the basics, and when Penny was old enough she began to teach herself things through the books she read at the town’s library. Pam would often walk by her bedroom and peer through the gap in her door to find her daughter sitting cross-legged on the bed, poring over a giant book and whispering to herself as she sounded out the unfamiliar words. 

Pam wasn’t sure how to relate to her book-loving daughter, and she knew she wasn’t the best mother, but it was at least somewhat certain that Penny would have a bright future, as bright as it could be given her circumstances. Pam was glad. She knew Penny would do much better in life than she ever had. That was all she wanted for her child.

And so the years passed. Penny read more and more, and Pam drank more and more. Penny still felt that horrible, trapped feeling, like vines restricting her growth, and it had only gotten stronger as she’d gotten older. Her books provided some temporary relief, but she found herself being able to escape into her fairytale worlds even less than usual. Often she’d be disturbed by her mother yelling for her to tidy up the trailer, or she’d be up late at night, sick with worry about her mother’s whereabouts. Pam went to the saloon every night, and while it was only a short walk from their trailer, Penny was just waiting for the day that she would collapse in the middle of town and Penny would get a call telling her to come to the hospital immediately.

Penny usually stayed quiet about her mother’s drinking, finding it easier to avoid confrontation, but there was one rare moment when she couldn’t stand it anymore. The trailer always stank of stale beer, and no matter how well she cleaned, that nauseating smell always seemed to remain. In a fit of frustration, Penny emptied the fridge of all alcohol, throwing it away. She scolded her mother for being so irresponsible: drinking was awful for her health, their finances AND it made their home smell disgusting!

Pam had been furious at Penny for this, and she’d been sent to her room. Penny ran there in tears, shutting herself inside and huddling under the bed covers with a book to escape into the world of castles and kings, fairies and junimos. The fridge had been restocked the very next day. Penny had given up any more attempts to stop her mother from drinking so much, although the worry still weighed heavily on her mind.

_I need to get out of here,_ Penny thought to herself one night. _I need to start saving money so I can finally leave this rusty old trailer and make a decent life for myself. What my mother does is out of my hands. I have to look after myself now._


	2. Longing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of alcoholism and arguing in this passage, so please be cautious if you're sensitive to that :)

“Every child deserves a chance to be successful!”

Pam dropped her empty beer can on the floor with the others, and slumped deeper into the threadbare couch. “Alright! But the little ankle-biters ain’t comin’ here!”

“Of course not! That wasn’t my plan. I’ll tutor Vincent and Jas at the library, not here! There’s not enough room here…” Penny trailed off, gazing around the tiny trailer. There were empty cans and bottles on almost every surface. She had cleaned up just that morning, but the mess and stench of alcohol had creeped back in as always. What was the point of tidying anymore? “This is no place for children anyway…” she murmured.

Pam propped herself up on her elbow, glaring. “What’s that s’posed t’ mean?” she slurred.

Penny simply shook her head. “Nothing. I’m going out for a while.”

“Not until you do the dishes.”

“I’ve done them already! If you weren’t always so drunk, you’d actually see how much work I do around here!” The words were blurted out more harshly than she meant, but she couldn’t take them back now.

Penny hesitated, her bottom lip trembling, and then swept up her library book from the table. Her fingers touched something sticky as she did so, some spill that had semi-dried and was attracting ants.

“Ugh!” She stormed out of the trailer, slamming the rusty door more forcefully than she intended to. She didn’t stop walking until she had made it to the community centre, the shabby old building that had gone to ruin about ten years ago, but one of the places where she wouldn’t have to speak to anyone. She plopped down on the bench beside it and used her sleeve to wipe the sweet, sticky substance from the book cover. This was a  _ library _ book! It didn’t belong to her! How could her mother be so inconsiderate? It was lucky it wasn’t permanently damaged.

Penny cracked open her book and began reading, but after only a few lines of text, her vision blurred with tears. She closed the book and wiped her eyes, but a few seconds later the tears returned even stronger.

_ Come on, I have to be strong! Things are finally looking up for me. I’ll be tutoring Vincent and Jas from now on and I’ll be doing something productive with my time. I can earn some money now...come on, Penny...I can get out of this, now. _

Penny sat up straighter as she heard the clip-clop of horse hooves nearby. She very quickly dried her eyes again and turned her face away from the source of the sound: it was that new farmer, and she didn’t want them to see her like this. She opened her book again and pretended to be absorbed in the pages. She was shy at the best of times, but she doubly didn’t want to talk to anyone while she felt like this. The farmer soon trotted into view on their horse, coming from the direction of the carpenter’s shop in the mountains. They didn’t seem to notice Penny in her secluded spot surrounded by trees and bushes, and Penny pretended not to notice them.

Once they had passed though, she chanced a look and saw them riding away into town. Penny wondered what it would be like to live on a farm. It sounded like a wonderful life, surrounded by plants and animals and lots of space. She’d always wanted to have her own space to start a garden, and a beautiful place to raise children and teach them all about the natural wonders of the valley.

Maybe she’d live on a farm when she moved out.


	3. Parsnip Soup

“Come on…why won’t you work?”

Penny had the house to herself for the evening. Her mother was at the saloon as always, and after a long week of tutoring Vincent and Jas, she had decided to try her hand at cooking a nice meal on a Friday night. Except...it wasn’t exactly going to plan.

The tiny old stove in their trailer was proving difficult as usual, and the hob that Penny was using to boil a pot of parsnip soup was taking forever to heat up.

_ Maybe if I cover it and leave it for a bit, it’ll boil faster. _

Penny placed the lid over the pot and adjusted the flame underneath so it was as high as it would go.  _ There. That should warm up in no time. _

Satisfied, Penny decided to leave the soup to heat for a while and sat down on the couch with a few reference books and a notepad. She was planning out the next few lessons for Vincent and Jas, who she’d only been tutoring for a week so far.

Penny smiled to herself as she jotted down some notes in her pretty, loopy handwriting. The tutoring was going well. It had taken Vincent and Jas a little while to adjust, but Penny could see that they both had potential. They just needed a good teacher to guide them in the right direction and provide a bit of discipline.

Working with Vincent and Jas made Penny think of how much she longed to have children, too. She had always known she wanted to be a mother, and having a simple life with her beloved family was her main aspiration in life. She’d never been one for big dreams and aspirations. A peaceful, beautiful life in the country was all she wanted.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden bubbling and splattering from the kitchen.  _ The soup!  _ Penny jumped up off the couch and ran into the kitchen to remove the lid from the spluttering soup pot. Liquid dribbled down its sides, and a slight burnt smell quickly filled the trailer.

“Oh dear…” Penny murmured. She hastily looked around for the oven mitts and used them to remove the boiled-over pot from the heat. She left it to cool, then opened up the trailer door to let the crisp spring air wash in and get rid of the smell.

She gingerly went back to the parsnip soup and stirred it, revealing that the bottom of it had burnt. Penny sighed and removed the oven mitts from her hands. She had just wanted to cook something for her and her mother. Now that Penny had some money from her tutoring job, she’d decided it was a nice idea to buy some ingredients and make a home-cooked meal for her and her mother to share when she got back from the saloon. Especially after their argument a little over a week ago, Penny thought it would be a good idea to give her mother a bowl of her favourite soup.

Penny tasted the soup. There was a mild burnt flavour but it was mostly ok. Maybe she could rescue it if she added some more ingredients? Penny searched in the fridge for things she could add. There was some milk, cheese, and some vegetables at the bottom of the fridge that needed to be used before they went bad. Penny gathered them up and placed them on the countertop next to her. 

She was no chef, and cooking wasn’t something she did very often, given that there wasn’t much to work with in the trailer. Penny was self-taught, and she enjoyed the process, even if the results didn’t always meet her expectations. She carefully put the pot back on the stove and added each ingredient, tasting as she went. The milk brought a creamier taste and texture, the aged cheese added a bit of sharpness, and the vegetables rounded out the whole soup and added a new level of flavour. It tasted good! The burnt flavour had subsided...but it wasn’t exactly parsnip soup anymore since she hadn’t gone by the proper recipe. Still, it was edible and as far as Penny could tell, the taste was good. It was probably the best thing she’d ever made. She just hoped her mother would like it.

Pam came through the creaky trailer door shortly after Penny had finished the soup. She was home much earlier than usual, at Penny’s insistence, so they could eat dinner together.

“Hi, mum,” Penny said, suddenly feeling quite awkward. It was rare that they ever had a meal together; usually Penny just ate leftovers while Pam was out at the saloon. She couldn’t remember the last time they actually sat down to eat together. Still, despite it feeling forced, Penny still wanted to go ahead with her idea.

“Something smells good,” Pam remarked, sniffing the air. “What did ya make?”

Penny blushed. “Soup. Take a seat, I’ll serve this up.”

Pam obliged, sitting down at the table, taking off her shoes and massaging her old calves. “What kind?”

Penny didn’t want to admit that she’d messed up one of her mother’s favourite recipes. “Just a vegetable soup. I haven’t made it before, so it’ll be something new.”

Penny ladled the steaming soup into two bowls and carried them across to the table. She sat down across from her mother, suddenly feeling embarrassed about the vase of daffodils she’d put on the table before. She thought they’d be a nice touch, but they felt out of place in their ugly trailer. Too fancy for people like her and her mother.

For a moment, there was silence between them. Pam met Penny’s eyes, opened her mouth to say something, then closed it. Seconds passed before she tried again. “Thanks, kid,” she murmured. Penny could tell by her hesitation that she was thanking her for more than just the soup.

Penny forced a smile. “It’s ok. I don’t get to cook very often and I wanted to do something nice, so...” she trailed off, gesturing across to her mother’s bowl. “Anyway, it’ll get cold. Tell me what you think.”

Penny waited as Pam took a spoonful of soup and raised it to her mouth. She tasted it, then nodded as a smile came over her face. “Good! Better than leftovers, anyway.”

Penny smiled back, genuinely this time, as a weight lifted off her shoulders. She began eating as well, pleased that the soup was enjoyable and that they were spending time together like this. “You know...I’d like to cook more often, and to have dinner with you more. Now that I have some money from tutoring I can afford better ingredients.”

“Ah, don’t waste all your money on fancy dinners, kid. You want to save up to get out of here, don’t ya?”

“Well, I mean,  _ eventually, _ but-”

“Look, I know you’re just tryin’ to do nice things for your mother, but you do enough around here. It’s time I clean up my act a bit. I know I gotta…” she looked down at her soup. “I gotta stop takin’ you for granted,” she muttered finally.

“Mum…” was all Penny could say. She hesitantly reached a hand across the table, resting it on her mother’s. “It’s ok. I know.”

Pam slowly withdrew her hand from Penny’s and sighed. “I just wanted you to live a better life than I ever did. But I’ve gone and screwed up with my drinking.”

Penny shook her head. “Things have been hard.”

“Only ‘cause I made them that way.”

The two lapsed into silence. This was the last thing Penny had wanted. She looked down at her hands, which were now clasped tightly together in her lap. Steam rose in lazy curls from her half-eaten soup. She could feel tears welling in her eyes.

Pam had gone back to eating, shoulders hunched and eyes locked on her task. She often did that when things became awkward, refusing to acknowledge what had just happened.

Penny took up her spoon again and finished eating her own soup. She couldn’t think of anything to say, anything she could do to lighten the mood. And so she ate in silence, regretting that she’d gone to all this effort in the first place.

“I’ll wash up,” Pam said, reaching for Penny’s bowl as soon as she’d finished.

Penny blinked at the unexpectedness of it, stuttering, “N-no, no, I’ll do it.”

“Doing the dishes won’t kill me,” Pam insisted, a little snappishly, stacking Penny’s bowl on top of hers. She took them over to the sink before Penny could retort. Penny turned around, resting her arm on the back of her chair as she watched her mother run the hot water and squeeze far too much dish soap into the sink. Pam didn’t say anything more to Penny, or turn around to face her, but she diligently scrubbed the dishes clean and positioned them to dry. Penny couldn’t remember the last time her mother had washed up.

_ This is just her way of showing she cares about me,  _ Penny thought.

A small smile found its way onto her face. It was evident her mother wanted to be better, to stop drinking as much and to help around the household more. Penny knew that deep down, her mother loved her - she just wasn’t sure how to show it.

Penny wordlessly got to her feet and walked over to the kitchen, taking a tea towel and beginning to dry what Pam had washed. It felt uncomfortable to just sit there and not help. Penny’s love language had always been domestic chores.

“I got it, kid,” Pam said in perhaps the most gentle tone that she had ever used with Penny. She took the towel from her daughter’s hand. “Sorry ‘bout before. You go to bed.”

Penny wanted to insist on helping, but she stopped herself. It seemed important to her mother that she did the dishes without help. She’d never seen her mother be so...well,  _ motherly _ before, and she didn’t want to argue.

She went quietly to her bedroom door a few feet away, before stopping and turning around. “Good night,” she said softly.

“Good night,” Pam replied.

Mother and daughter both stood there for a moment, words rising in their throats but neither of them speaking. The words  _ I love you, Mum _ were at Penny’s lips, but she couldn’t bring herself to say them. She didn’t remember the last time she’d said them, or heard them. Part of her wanted to hear what her mother had to say first.

“You’re a good kid,” seemed to be all Pam could utter as she looked down at the floor. 

Penny knew what that meant. A smile broader than any of her previous ones stretched across her face, and her soul lit up.

“I love you, too.”


End file.
